Manchester United have been fined approximately £257,000 by UEFA for what they have labelled a “minor” breach of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
United are among a number of clubs sanctioned by the European footballing governing body, including the likes of Barcelona, for breaking the FFP rules in place between 2019 and 2022 — the Red Devils apparently reported “a minor break-even deficit”.
The club has said it is “disappointed by the outcome” but accepts the fine as the result of a “technical breach” according to the previous set of regulations prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Explaining why they have been fined, the board said the decision “reflected a change in the way that UEFA adjusted for Covid-19 losses during the 2022 reporting period, which allowed us to recognise only €15 million of the total €281m in revenues lost due to the pandemic within the FFP calculation”.
Manchester United have been fined £257,000 by UEFA over a minor breach of its previous financial fair play rules 💰 pic.twitter.com/Er7MOKvWbN
Manchester United have been fined €300,000 for FFP breaches.
As for Spanish giants Barca, the current La Liga champions — who have been in an awkward and precarious economic situation for some time now — were fined a slightly larger sum of €500,000 (£428,000) and despite having strapped finances are still somehow managing to build a new stadium.
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Rather unsurprisingly, UEFA said the Spanish club was guilty of falsely reporting their finances in 2022 and failing to declare “profits on disposal of intangible assets (other than player transfers) which are not a relevant income under the regulations”.
Other continental clubs said to be under the spotlight are AC Milan, Besiktas, Inter Milan; Marseille, Monaco, Paris St-Germain and Roma.
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While all of them are said to have complied with FFP last year, they are still under investigation against the new rules and the football authority said it “will continue monitoring their compliance with the settlement agreement during next season”.
Of course, the irony of this news has not been lost on Man City fans and while the details of the two teams’ respective rule-breaking differ significantly both in terms of severity and duration (City having been slapped with 115 charges over nearly a decade), neither club comes out looking rosy.
It will be interesting to see how the Premier League deals with both clubs moving forward and whether these sanctions will have any real bearing on them this season, or whether it’ll just be a case of yet more fines as so often seems to be the case.
Featured Image — Wikimedia Commons/Jason Wong (via Lookout Point)/UEFA
News
Met Office gives verdict on how Storm Boelo aftermath will affect Greater Manchester this week
Emily Sergeant
Storm Boelo is finally on his way out, and now the Met Office has given its verdict on what we can expect from the rest of the week.
In the aftermath of two successive storms, Storm Austen followed by Storm Boelo – the latter of which affected Greater Manchester – the UK is now able to begin recovering from the effects of the adverse weather.
But the Met Office has warned that, although there is no named storm, strong winds and heavy rain will continue to affect parts of the UK early this week, before high pressure brings calmer conditions.
Yellow national severe weather warnings are in place for parts of Scotland and western areas of the UK today (Tuesday 27 October), including areas of the North West, as gales and spells of rain bring the potential for ongoing disruption around the region, particularly on exposed coasts and higher ground.
“The continued winds could hamper recovery efforts in some places,” forecasters also unfortunately confirmed.
⚠️ Strong winds and heavy rain continue across parts of the UK early this week with a yellow weather warning in place, before high pressure brings calmer conditions for many from Wednesday ⛅
Read our news release to find out more 👇
https://t.co/EQU4vvaA3B https://t.co/hpvTd8v7EZ
As rest of the week pans out though, conditions will begin to settle down and showers are expected to become ‘less frequent’, while winds also ease for most, although gales could continue for a time in the far north.
Thursday is expected be ‘largely dry’ with lighter winds and variable cloud, with a touch of mist and fog likely across parts of England and Wales during the morning.
From Friday and into the weekend, light rain will team up to potentially affect northwestern areas of England, but for the most part, temperatures are expected to remain close to, or slightly above, average for the time of year.
“From Wednesday, high pressure will start to build which will ease the winds and bring a quieter and largely drier end to the week for many, although some rain is still possible in the North and West,” explained Met Office Deputy Chief Forecaster, Steven Keates.
“However, with wind warnings in place, those in warnings areas, particularly in northern Scotland and western high ground, continue to be exposed to strong winds and heavy rain before the more settled weather arrives.”
Featured Image – The Manc Group
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Popular pumpkin patch attraction describes ‘catastrophic’ impact of Storm Boelo
Daisy Jackson
Bates Farm, one of the most popular pumpkin patch attractions in the North West, has shared its heartbreak after Storm Boelo forced its closure on the busiest day of the season.
The Warrington-based family farm said the financial impact has been ‘honestly catastrophic’, after they had to cancel all tickets for Sunday.
Sisters Ali and Fiona Wilshaw, who run the farm, said it was simply not safe to allow members of the public onto the farm in the storm, with ‘crazy’ gusts of wind.
They later shared a video that showed their marquee was badly damaged and many footpaths turned to deep mud.
The sisters said they were ‘heartbroken’ to have to close at such a busy time, but stressed to followers that ‘your safety and our integrity will always come first’.
On Saturday, as Storm Austen and Storm Boelo chased each other across the UK, several people shared videos of themselves getting battered by the weather at Bates Farm.
And it’s pretty clear from that why Ali and Fi decided to cancel all tickets and close for the day on Sunday.
They wrote: “We have put in so much love, energy and investment putting on this event at this scale. The cost to cancel and refund everyone today on our busiest day of the season is honestly catastrophic, but business aside, your safety and our integrity will always come first.
“To think last night we were running round Tesco trying to stock up on milk and now we are in the depths of recovering the site to go again tomorrow. All emails and enquiries are being responded to as quickly as possible and we are doing our best to open up more available slots next week.
“We are being tested like never before, but pulling together in true force. Huge shout out to the whole team and Farmer Fi the absolute queen in any crisis.
“Thank you all for your patience and especially thank you to those who have sent such kind words and support, we are so grateful to have customers like you.
“We will be back tomorrow to enjoy the remaining of this tough season, we are putting in so many provisions with wood chip paths, undercover seating and an indoor barn to make your visit as enjoyable as possible. Ali & Fi.”
Anyone who had tickets to visit Bates Farm on Sunday will be refunded, and can book in for another date.
Bates Farm has safely reopened its autumnal experience and pumpkin patch today.
Danny Jones -
15th July 2023 
